The team too embarrassed to look at the league table

As Ryan Giggs took the applause of the Stretford End following Saturday’s victory over Norwich City there was a real sense that Manchester United had at last rediscovered their identity.

But, however, positive that may feel to United’s relieved supporters, it doesn’t mean the pain of a nightmare season has subsided — or that the underlying problems that caused it have been miraculously solved.

The idea that David Moyes’ departure on its own is enough to make United title contenders next year — having fallen so far short this season — is too fanciful to consider; even if Giggs himself has insisted the squad is good enough, exactly as it is, to challenge Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal in future.

The arrival of a new manager — whether it be Giggs or Louis van Gaal — will need to be backed up by substantial investment in the transfer market; and a quick look at United’s first-half performance on Saturday is enough to highlight the limitations of the current squad even if, thank to Giggs, the second half flow of goals satisfied the public demand for a victory achieved in the ‘United way’.

The sight of Giggs taking off a midfielder in Tom Cleverley and replacing him with a striker, Javier Hernandez, even at 3-0 up, was enough to convince most Reds that the attacking heritage of the club was once again being respected — and the continued chants of ‘attack, attack, attack’ hinted at just how frustrated Old Trafford had been with Moyes’ more cautious approach.

“If you are 3-0 up at Old Trafford, you want to score more goals,” Giggs said afterwards, a viewpoint no doubt shared by every United fan.

But whereas Giggs’ loyalty to the ‘United way’ in that incident is a huge positive, his insistence that the current squad — which faces Sunderland at home next — is strong enough to challenge for the title next year will raise eyebrows.

When asked if it could take years for United to be title contenders again, Giggs said: “I don’t think it will. We won the league last year; the year before that we lost it on goal difference, and the year before that we won it. Where did Liverpool come last year? Seventh. It’s going to be hard obviously because we’ve had a tough season this season. But I’m confident.”

That confidence of course comes from more than 20 years of constant success and is part of the make-up of Alex Ferguson’s proteges that makes them, under normal circumstances, so difficult to beat. But in the cold light of day Giggs’ comments are at best optimistic and at worst deluded.

When you consider Giggs himself may not be available on the pitch next year, that Nemanja Vidic and possibly Patrice Evra will be gone and Rio Ferdinand pushed closer to retirement, then there are certainly holes to plug; and that doesn’t even take into consideration the fact that United are woefully short of quality in central midfield.

The list of areas that need strengthening is alarmingly long. At least in David de Gea, United have a settled goalkeeper; but the entire defence will need replacing, central midfield needs a complete overhaul — and if United are to play the Giggs way with pace and wingers, then really they need two of those as well.

On Saturday he started with Antonio Valencia, who performed well enough but who is certainly not world class, on the right and with Shinji Kagawa, played out of position on the left. It is not, despite the final result, a line-up to strike fear into Premier League or Champions League defences.

United’s squad, too, is filled with a string of players — Tom Cleverley, Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Alexander Buttner — who are simply not good enough at the level they want to reach; while up front there is real quality but, as indicated by Giggs’ decision to leave Juan Mata on the bench against Norwich, no real long-term plan as to how they all fit together.

Perhaps the best hope for United fans is that appointing Giggs for the last four games of the season has at least drawn a line under the Moyes mistake and reminded everyone at Old Trafford that sticking to the attacking principles held so dear by its followers is crucial in maintaining the identity of the club and in protecting its future. Louis van Gaal will do well to take note. But even if United win their last three remaining matches this season, which is certainly possible given the rise in confidence and enthusiasm brought by Giggs’ appointment, the likelihood is they will still finish seventh in the table, outside of even the Europa League place; and that pain remains intense.

“I’ve not looked at the league table for ages,” Ferdinand admitted, even after victory over Norwich. “It’s because you don’t want to. It’s embarrassing. You don’t want to look at the league table and see where we are.”

That must be an uncomfortable feeling for a squad so used to pinning the league table on the dressing room wall; and even with the greatest champion of all now in charge, it is not a feeling that should go unchecked.

There is a distinct possibility, given the atmosphere at Old Trafford on Saturday, that the last few fixtures of the season will seem like a party — but the boardroom post-mortem should nevertheless be ruthless.